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May 12, 2008 7:22 pm US/Eastern
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Wild Weather, Heavy Wind Gusts Threaten NYC
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
New York City felt more like Chicago on Monday morning, with chilly, wild weather turning the Big Apple into the Windy City and local airports into crowded waiting rooms.
"It is going to be a raw day today," said CBS 2 Meteorologist John Elliott.
Rain pushed into the tri-state overnight and tapered off to sprinkles in the morning, but the real concern is heavy bands of storms pushing in from the south. Periods of heavy rain are possible with extremely windy conditions.
The National Weather Service issued a Wind Advisory for the city until 5 p.m., and New Yorkers can expect to see winds between 20 and 30 mph, with strong gusts out of the east-northeast up to 50 mph.
The winds were causing headaches for travelers at area airports. Flights arriving at La Guardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport were experiencing delays of more than two hours, while flights arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport were seeing delays of up to an hour.
A Coastal Flood Advisory has also been issued until Tuesday due to tides averaging about two to three feet above normal.
In Cape May County, West Wildwood declared a state of emergency due to flooding, but did not insist that residents evacuate. The situation was the same in much of New Jersey's southernmost county, according to emergency management director Francis McCall.
"There's flooding on all the barrier islands," he said. "People have left on their own, but it wasn't mandatory."
As for New Jersey, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly has issued both a coastal flood warning and a wind advisory for the shore on Monday.
The foul weather also prevented the resumption of a Coast Guard search for a female passenger who fell overboard from a cruise ship off Atlantic City Sunday night. The Norwegian Dawn was headed for Bermuda from New York City when the incident occurred approximately 45 miles northeast of Atlantic City.
The Coast Guard launched two helicopter crews Sunday night, which searched for two hours before returning to base due to the weather. A Coast Guard spokesman said the storm remained too severe to resume the search on Monday.
Coast Guard boats and a helicopter from New Jersey also responded to an emergency distress call from a research boat with two people aboard that began breaking up and taking on water off the coast of Delaware Monday morning. A rescue operation is under way.
Atlantic City Electric reported that more than 38,000 customers were without power as of midday Monday, most of them in Atlantic, Cape May and Salem counties.
Public Service Electric & Gas reported an additional 7,700 outages across the state.
An additional 4,000 people were without power in Monmouth and Ocean counties as of midday, Jersey Central Power & Light Co. said.
The strong winds were a contributing factor in a fatal fire Monday morning in Newark, fanning the flames of a blaze that killed a 50-year-old man and left 35 other people homeless in three buildings.
Winds knocked trees down across the state, blocking roadways and dragging power lines down. Portions of several highways including Route 35 in Aberdeen and Routes 1 and 9 in Newark were closed periodically because of flooding.
Temperatures only hit the upper-40s Monday morning and weren't expected to get much higher, likely only reaching the lower-50s in the afternoon.
A return to beautiful May weather appears to be set for Tuesday however, with sunny skies and calmer winds, and a high of about 66.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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